Gordon Brown says they represent a new Englishness that Scots can warm to. But let’s not forget who’s in No 10
You may have heard talk of Gary Neville as a future mayor of Manchester. But what about Marcus Rashford and Gareth Southgate as saviours of the union, the two of them combining to win a trophy larger than any sporting bauble: namely, the preservation of the United Kingdom itself?
The notion comes from none other than Gordon Brown, who this week unveiled new research to confound the view that the nations of the UK are steadily pulling apart. Brown released polling data showing that, on what the former prime minister calls the “Southgate values” of diversity, tolerance and equality, the people of England not only agree with the coach of the national team, they are in statistical harmony with voters in Wales and Scotland too.
